A Broken Past
by She-Poe
Summary: *Formerly How to Save a Life*  After Robin is shot, Maria begins to learn small facts about his past that lead her to some startling conclusions.  Movie-verse.  RobinXMaria
1. One

_So this is my first ever non-zutara FF therefore its my first Moonacre FF as well. This brings joy to my soul like no other! :D Anyway, this is an AU ending of and post-movie FF. So I hope you enjoy. Updates will very, chapter lengths will very. R and R! _

**Chapter One**

All it took was one shot; one ear piercing, terrifying, silence-shattering bang to change the lives of not only Robin and Couer DeNoir, but the lives of Maria Merryweather and her family as well.

It was a large, angry DeNoir man that fired that life changing round. He'd arrived at the cliff only moments after Maria had come-to from her seemingly lifeless state on the back of the Sea Unicorn. She was standing directly in front of him—an easy target, nothing blocking his shot, nobody in the way. It was the overwhelming sense of duty and honor that made him pull the trigger—he really thought that he was doing the right thing. A flicker of doubt went through his mind, after all, Maria was just a young girl. But, he reminded himself, she was not only a disgusting Merryweather, but the blasted Moon Princes nonetheless! Then, baring his teeth in the stunned silence, he squeezed the trigger and one single bullet flew through the air, a stream of smoke trailing in its wake.

Maria closed her eyes tight; she wasn't ready to die—not again tonight. She heard a band—one sharp, echoing noise, then felt herself falling; her shoulder crashed into the ground with a sickening thud and a shot of pain rushed through her arm. Her eyes snapped open at—well—the lack of any other pain. Sudden disorientation sunk into her brain as everything before her unfolded in slow motion. Everyone's eyes were on her...or rather the boy behind her. Her gaze skimmed over everyone's sickened, horrified faces, and finally as she picked herself up, Robin. He was lying fewer than four feet from her, his face twisted in pain. His gloved hands were clamped to his side.

"Robin!" She wasn't sure if she screamed, whispered, or thought. Hands shaking, she rushed to him and helped sit him upright. His chest rose and fell in short, uneven breaths, and his pale lips were quivering like she never thought possible.

"Princess!" He growled as she tried to pry his hands from his side. His brown eyes met his silver ones fiercely, silently warning her that she wasn't going to like what she was about to see. She had never seen a look so desperate on any man's face—let alone Robin's!

"Robin DeNoir," Maria whispered harshly, gripping his wrists and wrenching his hands away. "I will not let you die! Do you understand me? You will not leave me, not now." She pressed her hands to his wound firmly. His blood seeped through her fingers, making scarlet trails across her skin. Hot tears burned her eyes as they threatened to fall down her face.

"Princess," Robin hissed again, gripping her upper arm as tight as he could. Her eyes flicked to his face, and suddenly she was ashamed of her tears. The corners of his lips twitched in a forced smirk. "Maria," he said, lowering his voice to a whisper that only she could hear and raising his free hand to her cheek. "I'll be alright, Maria. I promise. I've never broken a promise to you, have I?" Maria shook her head slowly. "Good."

"We have to get him home," Coer DeNoir said softly, appearing behind them. His eyes were glassy and his whole body visibly shaking. He had be so cruel to his son these past few days and now the bitter taste of regret filled his mouth. Coer looked down at his son, his one and only heir, with fear in his heart and worry in his eyes.

"Home?" Sir Benjamin asked, his voice coming loudly. Robin flinched in Maria's arms. "Are you mad? That boy needs a doctor!"

"I've trusted our physician with my life longer than you, Mister Merryweather, have been alive. I do not believe that he is the only competent man of his practice for miles, I know it!"

"The village has an excellent doctor, Mister DeNoir. He is proven to be one of the best in the entire bloody country! Do you really believe that your physician will be able to—not only extract the bul-"

"Robin!" Maria cried, shaking his limp body. It had only taken a few moments for him to fall unconscience—whether it be from sheer pain or something she could not see, Maria did not know (but Lord, did she hope it was the former). "Please, Uncle Benjamin! The DeNoir castle is so much closer... I don't know... I don't know how..." Maria couldn't bring herself to say it. The thought of losing someone else so soon frightened her to tears.

"He needs a professional!" Uncle Benjamin said firmly.

"What he _needs_ is someone he trusts!"

"_That's enough!" _Loveday erupted, her voice quaking with anger. For a moment, everyone's eyes were on her—save Maria's whose were glued strictly on Robin's face. "Robin needs help and you two are going to stand over him and fight like a bunch of children!" She glared between her father and her fiancée. "This is not a matter of who is right and who is wrong! This is a matter of life...and death. We will take him to the DeNoir castle."

"Loveday, if you give me some time, I can send for a-" Benjamin started calmly.

"Time," Loveday said, her gaze falling softly on her bleeding baby brother. "Is something we have very little of."

_**O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o**_

_**So, that's the end of chapter one. Review please, it'll make my life. Peace and love,**_

_**~She Poe**_


	2. Two

_**So, I just re-watched TSOMA, and—as I happened to have my laptop at hand as well—decided to Google some random stuff about the movie. As it turns out, in the original draft of the script, there was indeed a Robin/Maria kiss at the end...but (presumably because of the age difference between Dakota and Augustus) it was written out of the script. I'm not sure if me knowing this has infuriated me or made me incredibly happy. Hm... but anyway, I've finally got the new chapter up, so read and review as always, and stay tuned for the next one. :)**_

**Chapter Two**

Maria sat silently in the corridor of the DeNoir castle, just outside of the physician's work room. Her folded hands lay coldly in her lap; her back was pressed firmly to the stone wall behind her. "We should go home, Maria," Ms. Heliothrope said quietly. "We can come back in the morning when the operation is over and-"

"No." Maria's voice cracked through the air like a whip and instantly all eyes were on her; she had neither spoken nor moved in over three hours. Even the equally anxious Loveday had made a pint to share a few hushed words with Sir Benjamin.

"But Maria, its so late and if will be far less taxing on all of us if we go-" Ms. Heliothrope attempted again. She flicked her bespectacled gaze to Sir Benjamin who then looked to Loveday.

"I won't leave him here alone," Maria said more so to herself than to anyone else. With that they fell back into silence. Maria couldn't help but feel guilty and somewhat—if not completely—responsible for Robin's current condition; after all, he took a bullet that was blatantly meant for her. Staying was the least she could do for him after that. Not to mention stabbing him with a needle and kicking his shin...and calling him a filthy bandit...and insulting him whilst he hung upsidedown in a trap that she had set for him. Come to think of it, she had done a lot to him in the sort few days that she had known him, and she felt horrible about all of it. Her stomach burned as she reflected upon her actions. She was physically sick with not only worry, but a slimy self-disappointment as well. If Robin didn't pull through, she knew that a part of her would die with him; she would survive, she knew, but no one—not the God in Heaven, nor the Moon Spirit, nor the Devil beneath her feet would be so cruel as to rip another from her grasp so soon after the death of her father.

"Benjamin," Loveday whispered. "you take Ms. Heliothrope back to the manor, I'll stay here with Maria." At Benjamin's quizzical look, she added "I have some business of my own to attend to." He gave her a curt nod, accompanied by a small sideways smile as he picked himself up. He and Ms. Heliothrope bid them all adieu and were escorted to the exit by a tall, almost portly leather-clad man. "Maria," Loveday cooed after they had gone. "I'm going to the kitchens, would you like to come with me?"

"I can't leave him alone, Loveday. You of all people should understand that." Maria threw a cautious glance between the heavy wooden door and Loveday, hoping hat it would somehow justify not wanting to leave.

Loveday gave her a sad, knowing smile and sat down beside her on the floor. "Imagine how angry he'd be if I let you sit here in the cold all night with nothing to drink. Come on, we won't be gone long, I promise."

Against her better judgment, Maria stood up, her legs aching from constant running followed so abruptly by a lack of any motion whatsoever. She followed Loveday down a long, curving corridor and past several doorless rooms, each seemingly colder than the last. The further she got from the physician's room, and the further she got from Robin, the more she found herself looking over her shoulder.

As they crossed the threshold into the kitchen, Maria was struck by warmth that radiated from the open ovens. The kitchen was fairly small, but clean and warm—unlike the rest of the DeNoir castle. The counters were made of a smooth, gray stone, and had recently been cleaned. A few lit candles were hanging on the walls, the wax that dripped off of them creating a growing mass of hardening wax on the floor below them. Across from them were two stone ovens and an open fire pit, over which was a large, steaming, black pot. Above the ovens, old, worn pots and pans hung on hooks, water dripping from them rhythmically. A small, wooden table sat in the center of the kitchen, with two rickety looking stools at each side. "Go ahead and sit down, Maria," Loveday said, motioning toward the stools.

"I'd rather sit by the fire, if that's alright," Maria replied, hugging herself. Loveday nodded in response, then turned her attention to the cupboards in search of two tin mugs. Not wanting to sit on the floor again, Maria dragged a stool over to the fire and perched on top of it tiredly, holding her hands out in front of her to be warmed by the glowing embers beneath the pot. After a minute or so, she unlaced her boots and sat them neatly on the floor next to her, enjoying having the ability to feel her toes again. Behind her, Loveday stuffed dried tea leaves into tiny cloth sacks and tied them shut with yarn then plopped the tea sacks into two tall mugs and brought them over to the fire, handing Maria one. Fetching a ladle from a hook on the wall, Loveday scooped up some of the steaming water from the pot and emptied it into Maria's mug, then did the same to her own cup. She hung the ladle back on its hook and pulled up a stool beside the fire.

Waiting for her tea to brew, Maria let her eyes rest on the orange embers in the fire pit and her mind began to wander. A vision of Robin flashed before her eyes, followed shortly thereafter by an image of her own, shaking, blood covered hands. She thought of him laying on a cold table, fighting for his life, and it was all because of her. How could she ever forgive herself for doing that to him?

"Maria, he'll be alright. You know that just as well as I do," Loveday said, pulling the bag of herbs from her cup and tossing it into the fire. Maria did the same. She raised her mug to her lips and sipped at the steaming liquid before continuing. "I know that you're worried about him, but you have to think of yourself too."

"But, Loveday, its my fault. That gun was aimed at _me_. That bullet was meant for _me_. Not for him. And now...because he's an idiot he could be dying and...and..."

"Maria!" Loveday chided, setting her cup on the floor. "You mustn't think like that. Robin will be fine. He's a fighter; you have no idea what that poor boy has gone through-"

"_And neither do you_!" Maria snapped, her frustration finally getting the best of her. Loveday had left her home when Robin was just seven years of age...she'd told Maria so herself! How could she expect Maria to believe for a moment that she knew the horrors which Robin had witnessed? She dug her teeth so hard into her lip that she almost broke the skin. Never had she been so enraged at Loveday, and to be honest she never thought it possible; right now, it was either scream or cry, and she was so tired of crying. Unsure of exactly where she was going, Maria grabbed her boots and made a bee line for the door. "Don't pretend you know what's happened to him." She said as she disappeared into the hallway.

Maria ran though the corridors, her bare feet freezing each time they smacked against the cold, stone floor. Her eyes were burning and her hands shaking in frustration. It didn't occur to her until she had been wandering for well over fifteen minutes that she was totally and completely lost somewhere deep in the DeNoir castle. Self-disappointment, fused together with despair in Maria's stomach, all but forcing her to fall to her knees and sob. She had never felt quite so helpless before, and that, considering what she'd recently been through, was saying something. Giving up—on _everything!_-she sat down against the wall, buried her face in her hands and screamed.

"Now, now, Princess, no need to be so loud."

Maria's heart lept. "Robin?" She almost said. Her eyes washed over the boy standing no more than four feet from her. He was tall, thin, and under a pile of straw colored hair, had the blackest eyes Maria had ever seen. His face was thin and sharp and a snide smile played over his lips. She recognized his face, however vaguely, but couldn't put a name to it, but she was sure this certainly was not Robin. "Don't call me princess." Was all she could manage.

"Well, Princess, I do not know your name, and the only time we have ever been in each other's presence, you were referred to as 'Princess.' So, Miss Merryweather I have no choice but to call you Princess...or Miss Merryweather. I, myself, prefer Princess." The boy smiled at her as he lazily rested his shoulders against the wall of the corridor. "So, what shall it be?"

"Maria," she said, somewhat annoyed.

"Richard, just in case you may have been wondering," he said, more so to the air than to her.

"I wasn't."

"That hurt, Princess. Here I am, trying to be nice to you, asking your name, wanting to help you find your way back to the physician's room, and you don't even care to learn my name?"

"Listen, _Richard_, I really don't care who you are or what you're doing here. But I do wish that you would leave me alone! I've had the longest day of my life...I jumped off of a cliff, I'm pretty sure that I _died_, and now someone that I really care about-" At this her voice faltered, and tears once again sprang to her eyes. She cursed herself for crying again...and this time in front of one of Robin's friends.

"I'm sorry, Maria. I-I didn't mean to make you cry-" Richard said, his body becoming visibly rigid as he became more and more uncomfortable. "I—I..."

**O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o**

**Heh heh heh. And with that, I take my leave.**

**No, I lie. I just wanna say a few things before I go. One: I am so happy that this chapter is up. Two: Too bad that I'll probably end up hating it when I read over it. Three: HAPPY 11.11.11! :D**

**~ShePoe**


	3. Three

**Wow...Its been a while, hasn't it? OH WELL! I'm back, for a short time any way. I've been working on original stuff for a while, so I decided to come back to good ole Fic. :D**

**Chapter Three**

Richard stood awkwardly across from Maria and rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. He'd never really seen a girl cry before—that is, he'd never seen a girl older than seven cry. "Don't...don't do that. Listen..." he attempted, clearing his throat. "I just...I'm sorry. I'll take you back to Robin."

Maria rubbed her eyes and took a long, calming breath to regain her composure. "You probably think I'm such a baby," she scoffed, pressing her hands to the ground and pushing herself to her feet. She looked up at Richard, expecting a scowl, or a look of utter annoyance, but he looked almost as pale as she felt. His face was almost white, save for the bright red splotches on his cheeks. He ran his hand through his hair nervously, like he didn't know what to do with it otherwise. Suddenly, a feeling quite close to relief came over her, and she didn't feel so alone anymore. "Where are we?" She asked, hoping that he could explain.

"About as far away from the physician's rooms as you can get," he admitted, shuffling his boot-covered feet. "How long were you by yourself?" Richard pivoted swiftly, and nodded toward the candle-lit hall before them. Maria looked him over for a moment; he was more than a head taller than her, and probably a good many years older as well. His eyebrows were raised and drawn together slightly, and shadows flickered on his face in the candlelight. He was thin, lanky, and altogether awkward-looking. His eyes were rimmed with black, much like Robin's—in what she could only guess was some sort of a tradition—and his hair, shaggy and messy, framed his face. Looking away from him, she searched the ground for her boots, and after seeing quickly that they were nowhere to be found, she sighed and took a few steps toward Richard. "What's wrong?"

She laughed and folded her arms across her chest. "That's the question of the night, isn't it?"

Richard pressed his lips together and gave her a sad, understanding look. "I suppose it is." She could feel his eyes on her, tracing a line from her head to her toes. His gaze didn't make her feel uncomfortable, so much as it made her feel insecure, and she found herself shaking it off and stepping past him into the dimly lit corridor. They walked for a bit, side by side in silence. There was a strange scent that mingled soft warmth with stony coldness floating through the air, and the further they walked together, the stronger the scent became. She saw that in some rooms, large wax candles were burning with tall, orange flames. "We're not all bad, you know," Richard said, startling Maria with the sudden break in silence.

"Of course not," she replied, her mind still in another place.

"We're not stupid either."

"I never said you were."

"Ah," Richard sighed, tugging on his jacket. "But, I know that you thought it once. You thought that we were a band of...what was it? Vagabonds and plunderers?" Maria stopped in her tracks, completely taken aback by his statement. She didn't know them then; she had been angry and afraid...stupid.

"That's not fair-"

"I used to live in London, you know? And Robin did too. When we were little, we went to London with Robin's sister. I think she was seventeen, maybe? I was only ten, I know that. We lived next to a huge house, with a garden and everything. Sometimes, we would sneak into the neighbor's garden and hide in the bushes and climb the trees. This garden was amazing. There was a fence around the back, but it was only maybe four feet high...to keep the dogs out, I guess. Vines had completely overgrown the fence, and hid this little hole in the side farthest from the house. That's how we used to get in. There was a fountain...all made of dark stone...in the very middle of the garden. And I think there were...rosebushes...yes! Rosebushes! All around the thing. And...I think there was a line of really tall...I think they were-"

"Juniper trees. Juniper trees along the back wall..." Maria whispered under her breath. Her heart sank for a split moment; was it possible? Were they speaking of the same garden?

Richard snapped his fingers briskly and chuckled. "Juniper! That's it! And..let me tell you, Robin was quite the lady's man...even back then! There was a girl that lived in the house with her parents. Sometimes she would come out into the garden with her nanny—a batty old thing, be glad you don't know her—and she would just wander through the garden while her nanny sewed on the veranda. I don't think she saw us...only once. Robin had this little looking glass that his mother gave him when he was little—before she died—and he gave it to her. This girl couldn't have been more than three. It wasn't long after that that Loveday moved back to Moonacre, and us with her." He sighed, still completely oblivious to Maria's discomfort. "I wonder whatever happened to her..."

The garden...the nanny...the girl...there was no way...it just wasn't possible. Although the descriptions were strikingly similar, if not coincidentally identical to the garden which she had grown up in, she couldn't bring herself to believe that they were the same place. What Richard was remembering had to have been a dream, or a false memory. But what were the odds that his fallacy would bear such a striking resemblance to her childhood home? Not only that, but the looking glass! Ever since she was little, she'd had a necklace—or rather a small looking glass tied to a thin ribbon that she wore around her neck. After a few silent moments, Richard began speaking again—he was really turning out to be quite the chatterbox—although she paid little attention. Her eyes were fixed on the blackness before them, and her mind was lost within itself.

**o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o**

**O.o REALLY short chapter. I know. Sorry...but at least its an update. :p **


	4. Four

Chapter Four

Richard and Maria made their way back to the physician's room rather quickly, considering they had been "as far away as one could get" from it. As they rounded the corner, Couer DeNoir closed the door to the physician's room behind him with a dull click of wood on stone. Couer's eyes met Richard's quickly, and they goth froze, caught in some silent, invisible battle that Maria could neither understand nor ignore. Couer cleared his throat and with that the fight was over and the two broke their relentless gazes; Couer pushed past them, a huff grumbling through his teeth. Once he'd disappeared, Maria broke the silence. "What, exactly, was that?"

Richard's eyes continued to stare in Couer's path. "That man," he started, keeping his voice low. "He might be the head of the family, but he is no one to look up to." His nose twitched, much like a rabbit's, in a way that—had the situation been more light-hearted—would have caused Maria to giggle. "I never liked him. And neither did Robin." Richard helped himself to a seat on the floor and Maria sat down next to him, waiting for him to continue. She watched him cautiously as he began to remove his scarf, seemingly unaware of her eyes. As the dark gray fabric fell away from his neck, Maria saw a set of three bruises splayed out across his skin, visible even in the dim light. She opened her mouth to gasp, but at the last second, decided against it; she didn't want to alert him that she'd been staring. For a moment, she wondered if they were from an accident, or from an attack, or from something else that Maria knew she shouldn't think of. She swallowed whatever words she'd been thinking of and turned away. It wasn't until then that she felt Richard's eyes on _her_. "He wasn't always like that, you know. He used to be happy...or so rumor has it."

"Hm?" Maria's interest was captured, and she turned to Richard with an inquisitive look on her face.

"Yeah," Richard sighed, rubbing his hands—clad of course in fingerless kid gloves—over the marks on his neck. "According to the oldies around here, he used to be a great man. Until, that is, well, its not really my place to say." He looked at her with eyebrows raised and black eyes brimming with brazenness.

"But you're going to tell me anyway, aren't you?" Maria inquired.

Richard smirked. He picked up the edge of his scarf and held it between his hands, and for a moment, that small piece of fabric seemed to be the most interesting thing in the entire world. "Before Couer became the clan leader, we were in a time of peace. Sure, everyone was taught to hate the Merryweathers, and to hunt and find things in the forest. But, no one ever acted upon it. Their hatred of course, people exorcised their ability to hunt almost daily. But that's beside the point. Couer was married. His wife, well, what I remember of her anyway, was beautiful. She was tall. Her eyes were brown—light brown—kind of like Robin's, but a little lighter. Her hair. I remember hearing my mother talk about this woman's hair, and how she was jealous of it. It was curly, kind of like yours. But brown. And long. I don't remember her face much. But I do know that there was something different about it. Something that made all of the guys go crazy. And for some reason...no one really knows why...she decided to fall in love with Couer."

"Were she and your mother friends?" asked Maria.

Richard chuckled faintly. "Hardly. My mother was a true born DeNoir. She was born and raised here. In this castle. Robin's mother, on the other hand, was from the village. All DeNoir women, some more than others, have a sort of animosity toward women from other places. Its inevitable, really, for others to marry into the family. But they aren't welcomed at first."

"That must be difficult."

"It is." Maria could see Richard tense up. He dropped his scarf in his lap and pressed his fingers to his temples.

"I'm sorry."

"Trust is a terrible thing," Richard murmured. "Are you cold?" He held out his scarf to Maria, not really wanting her to take it. She shook her head, even though she was. Richard shrugged and draped the scarf around the back of his neck. The fabric fell over his shoulders and rested in folds in his lap, and for another moment or so, he was silent. _Is everything alright?_ She wanted to inquire, but decided against it. Instead, she studied him for a few moments more. He was smart, she knew that not only because of their conversations, but because of the way his eyes sparkled when he surprised her. She wondered if his intelligence had been hindered because he was a DeNoir. They were sheltered and kept to themselves with whatever they had. They were selfish and terrifying. Any real sense of community and etiquette was long gone. They were not exactly civil. And all the while she was having these thoughts and looking at Richard, a boy as sharp as a needle in both wit and looks, who just happened to be one of these "sheltered" and "uncivil" people. Her mind dared to Robin, who was just behind a door, and yet was so far away from her. Despite all of the things wrong things that she could point out about the DeNoirs, she couldn't help but feel a special connection with him; the boy that had chased her, locked her in a jail, tried to kidnap her.

"You're in love, aren't you?" Maria asked, almost by accident. She and Richard looked at each other in the same moment and a rose of shame bloomed in her stomach, sending its prickly stems up her spine. Richard's lips were pressed together and his black eyes were staring directly at the air in front of her face. There was a little twinkle of longing in his eyes, much like the one that she had—unbeknownst to her—when he talked about Robin.

"I was." Richard's voice crackled just enough for her to know that she'd most definitely screwed up. He cleared his throat. "She...she died." When Maria didn't say anything, he said; "Love was what we were talking about before, right? Love and the tragedies that go along with it? Couer and Ophelia were married, and it wasn't too long after that that Ophelia had Loveday. I remember that's another reason that my mother hated her so much..."

"She was promiscuous?"

Richard chuckled at her formality. "She was a whore, Maria. You don't have to sugar coat it. There were stories...horrible stories that Loveday wasn't even Couer's daughter. But he would have nothing of it. He was in love. So blindly in love with Ophelia that he couldn't see what was plainly in front of him. Loveday was his pride and joy. She was daddy's little girl. And then, one day, it happened. She went out into the forest, just for a walk. Just like every other day. She couldn't have been too old...seventeen I think. Well, here's where the problem started. She met your uncle Benjamin. He was on his high-horse. Literally, I suppose. On a ride through the forest and had happened into DeNoir territory. They were immediately taken with each other. When he introduced himself as a Merryweather, she knew that he could never love her. That is, if he knew her true last name. She told him that she was a girl from the village, who was on a walk and had gotten lost. Loveday lived that lie for years. And then, just before they-"

"Just before they got married, she told him she was a DeNoir. And then they fought. And she ran away."

"If you would like to tel the story, by all means, go ahead, Princess." Richard gave her a look of annoyance. She pursed her lips and looked down at her lap, murmuring an apology. "Even before Loveday met your uncle, Ophelia found out that she was pregnant. But she was older now...seventeen years older...and she knew that it would be tough. Well, she—she didn't know. She got sick. Really sick, and for her whole pregnancy, she couldn't get out of bed. And then, she went into labor. Two months early. Mind you I was just a baby, so I'm just going by what I've heard. It was during this time that Loveday started to withdraw from the family, like most of us do at some time I suppose. She would disappear for hours and hours. As Ophelia's condition grew worse, Loveday started spending more and more time away. And the day that Robin was born, Loveday was gone. Couer couldn't find her. He was torn between fury and depression. He could see it in Ophelia's eyes..." His voice faltered. "She was dying, Maria."

Maria reached out to him and rested her fingertips lightly on his arm. "You don't have to."

"No. I do have to. I've already started. It's just not right if I don't finish it." He cleared his throat and scooched himself so that he was directly facing Maria. "Couer got it in his brain that Robin was the reason for Ophelia's death."


End file.
